ABERNATHY TO START HOLDING EX PARTE FILINGS TO FCC RULES
Office of FCC Comr. Abernathy will begin returning ex parte letters that aren’t detailed enough to meet Commission requirements, she told reporters at breakfast Thurs. Lobbyists and others who don’t offer level of detail required by FCC guidelines will be asked to resubmit their letters. “We have rules in place that say when you come in and file an ex parte it should delineate exactly what you're saying and what issues you are going into,” Abernathy said in wide-ranging Q&A session: “That has not been followed in many instances.” In a recent speech to FCBA, Abernathy also had cited what she saw as need for more detailed ex parte filings. “If you look through the ex partes that are filed with this office, you should have a clear understanding of the issues in discussion and who’s been in and then you can decide which ones you do respond to,” she said Thurs. She said she had discussed the process her office was implementing along with other commissioners, whom she described as very supportive. “All it really takes is one or two offices ensuring that the information is there,” she said.
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Abernathy also expressed concern that public might perceive undue influence by profitable companies when they come up against consumer groups on issues such as open access issues currently before Commission. Although she conceded that many consumer groups couldn’t finance their own studies in same way private industry could, she said her office planned to call public interest groups when “certain key issues come forward” and if they hadn’t scheduled an appointment, encourage them to do so. She also encouraged consumer groups to team up with foundations or other organizations that could generate substantive data for FCC record. “It’s not always how much money you throw at it,” she said.
FCC decisions on pending Enhanced 911 Phase 2 waiver requests by wireless carriers could come soon, Abernathy said. Deadline to begin implementing Phase 2 location-tracking capabilities was Oct. 1 and FCC orders on waiver requests have been expected out any day.
While Commission has been working on many public safety wireless issues, Abernathy said “Sept. 11 has kind of focused our efforts.” She said Network Reliability & Interoperability Council earlier had put in place best practice standards to address threats to network reliability. “We need to look again at where some of our critical telecommunications infrastructure will be vulnerable and where we need to help,” she said, adding that Congress and other policymakers were looking at same issues. To address spectrum capacity for public safety operations, FCC already has been looking at additional 97.5 MHz of spectrum over next 15 years, she said. About 2.5 MHz of that spectrum would be set aside to allow radio interoperability on emergency scenes between different agencies in event of disaster. In addition, part of 24 MHz of Ch. 60-69 spectrum, now occupied by incumbent analog broadcasters, also has been set aside for public safety. She said there was potential additional capacity at 4.9 GHz, band being transferred from govt. to nongovt. uses. “I am very intrigued about allocating that band to public safety.” One possibility is to use band for video feed for public safety agencies that need to assess site of disaster, Abernathy said. FCC had proposed last year allocating 4.9 GHz band for both fixed and mobile services.
Abernathy rejected notion that FCC should require or encourage industry to record all radio and TV programs that might be deemed in bad taste. “Would I ever support the adoption of a regulation whose sole purpose is to monitor speech for the purpose or regulating speech? No, I won’t,” she said. She said such taping wasn’t necessary because ordinary citizens, organized parent groups and others often taped material they found objectionable. “Someone’s taping them because we do get the complaints,” she said. Broadcasters are subject to penalties and forfeitures only “if they do cross the line into indecent material,” she said. Comr. Copps has been urging broadcasters to voluntarily keep tapes or transcripts of programs (CD Oct 4 p4).
Abernathy indicated Commission would hold off on deciding how to define Internet service in deference to U.S. Supreme Court, which heard oral argument Tues. in pole attachment case that pitted cable companies against utilities on question of whether Internet service provided by cable companies was classified as cable service, telecom service or some other as-yet-undefined service (CD Oct 3 p3). High court is expected to rule on question by next summer. During arguments, some justices, particularly Justice David Souter, expressed frustration that FCC had not decided issue already. Commission has proceeding pending on question but Abernathy said it wasn’t teed up for action. “At this point, we'll wait and see what the Supreme Court does,” she said.